Recounts the story of a young American anti-apartheid activist and Fulbright scholar who was murdered by black residents of Cape Town, who ultimately were granted amnesty and worked with the woman's parents to create an educational foundation for justice.
The story of Amy Biehl is well known in South Africa: The twenty-six-year-old white American Fulbright scholar was brutally murdered on August 25, 1993, during the final, fiery days of apartheid by a mob of young black men in a township outside Cape Town. Her parents' forgiveness of two of her killers became a symbol of the Truth and Reconciliation process in South Africa. Journalist Justine van der Leun decided to introduce the story to an American audience. But as she delved into the case, the prevailing narrative started to unravel. Why didn't the eyewitness reports agree on who killed Amy Biehl? Were the men convicted of the murder actually responsible for her death? And then van der Leun stumbled upon another brutal crime committed on the same day, in the very same area. The true story of Amy Biehl's death, it turned out, was not only a story of forgiveness but a reflection of the complicated history of a troubled country. This book is the result of van der Leun's four-year investigation into this strange, knotted tale of injustice, violence, and compassion. The reader comes to understand that the issues are universal in scope and powerful in resonance, revealing how reconciliation is impossible without an acknowledgment of the past--a lesson as relevant to America today as to a South Africa still struggling with the long shadow of its history.--Adapted from dust jacket.
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